Green on White

Even in a land defined by winter, October 10 is early for serious snow. Leaves were just beginning to turn seriously yellow and red, patches of earth blanketing in the fallen. Now, Fall is sharing its time. All day I’ve been looking out at the snow, heavy and wet, pouring down at the same angle as the pine branches, white marking the bright green grass and the many trees still green and full.

Skaði, the Norse god of the snow and the cold, is more than a personification as she reaches out early to remind us where we are and what we can expect. This winter, on us lightly now but poised to deepen every night into Yule, is more than a recurrence of the season. Each day has its own soul: today’s is just cold enough to to gather into contrast and whiten the ground, but turns into running streams on pathways warmed by human feet. The moon waxes while the earth wanes. Winter makes the days dark and grim, but the nights glow silver.

We gather ourselves to see how Fall and Winter will flow back and forth together, and how we will work with them.